The present invention relates to fishing rod holders and more particularly to an improved holder assembly which is securable to a boat and adjustably supports a fishing pole at various angles of inclination.
Heretofore, a fairly wide variety of supports or rod holders have been proposed. Ordinarily, such holders may be clamped to the gunwale of a boat and support a single fishing rod. These assemblies, once mounted at the desired location on a boat, may permit the angle of inclination of the rod to be varied, but only in a single plane. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 684,451 entitled POLE-SUPPORT, which issued on Oct. 15, 1901, to Mowry, discloses a pole holder which utilizes a ball-and-socket joint to allow the angle of inclination of the pole to be varied. This is accomplished by the movement of a bolt through a slot in the ball mechanism. As such, when the pole holder is mounted to, e.g., a boat, the angle of the rod can be adjusted in a 180.degree. arc, but only in a plane corresponding to the direction of the slot. Should a fisherman desire to position his rod in a different plane, the pole holder would have to be completely dismantled from the boat and reattached in the new position. This burdensome procedure would not only be time-consuming, but also would leave unsightly holes on the boat from prior mounting positions. Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 2,692,106 entitled FISHING ROD HOLDER, issued on Oct. 19, 1954, to Herrmann, which discloses a rod holder that is rotatably adjustable. However, the rod holder is designed to be mounted to the upstanding sidewall of a boat, particularly to the gunwale, and, as such, provides for movement only about a substantially horizontal axis in a plane disposed longitudinally of the boat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,652 entitled CLAMP AND ROD HOLDER ASSEMBLY, which issued on Nov. 17, 1992, to King, does provide a rod holder having a greater degree of adjustability. However, the rod holder is attached to a boat by means of a clamping device that allows for mounting only in select locations on a boat, such as on top of the gunwale.
Fishing rod holders have been developed which allow for the mounting of multiple fishing rods. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,559 entitled ROD HOLDER AND ALIGNMENT DEVICE, which issued on Dec. 4, 1984, to Hawie, discloses a multi-rod holder which is mounted within a conventional rod holder on a boat. The rods are held in a fixed, upright position, there being no provision for rotatably adjusting the angle of inclination of the rod. Other multi-rod holders have been proposed which typically involve one or more elongated members having a plurality of longitudinally spaced rod holder apertures and which usually extend transversely across the boat from gunwale to gunwale. Examples of such may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,803 entitled FISHING ROD HOLDER, which issued on Jun. 12, 1979, to Mack; U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,349 entitled TROLLING BAR ASSEMBLY, which issued on Jul. 9, 1985, to Emory, Jr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,195 entitled FISHING POLE MOUNTING DEVICE FOR A BOAT, which issued on Sep. 26, 1989, to Eichfeld. Such holders, while again failing to provide for adjustment of the rod's angle of inclination, can also be potentially cumbersome due to their elongated nature and their extension across the width of the boat.
An assembly has been shown which uses a combination of a rod holder and a channel mount. U.S. Design Pat. No. 332,299 entitled COMBINED FISHING ROD HOLDER AND TROLLING BOARD, which issued on Jan. 6, 1993, to Dryna et al., discloses a rod holder slidably mounted within a channel-shaped trolling bar or board. Structure is provided which permits adjustment of the rod's angle of inclination in a single vertical plane.
A need exists for a fishing rod holder assembly which is adaptable to mount a plurality of fishing rods, which can be securely mounted on a boat at any desired angle, from horizontal to vertical, and which provides fixed positioning of the rod holder at different angles of inclination on the boat.